Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
CNSC's Uranium Mines and Mills Division
Introduction
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s (CNSC) Office of Audit, Evaluation and Ethics (OAEE) completed an audit of the Uranium Mines and Mills Division (UMMD) of the Directorate of Nuclear Cycle and Facilities Regulation (DNCFR). This audit assessed UMMD’s management control framework against the Criteria of Control Framework of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Background
The mandate of the Uranium Mines and Mills Division (UMMD) is to deliver all compliance and licensing activities for existing, operating, decommissioned, legacy and planned uranium mines in Saskatchewan, and any other new uranium mines proposed in Canada.
UMMD has two major subsets of regulatory activities: licensing new and existing facilities, and regulatory compliance activities for licensed facilities. The regulatory compliance activities are further broken down into promotion, verification, and enforcement.
Audit Objective and Scope
The objective of the audit was to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the management control framework put in place to support achievement of UMMD’s mandate.
The field work of the audit was conducted between November 2006 and January 2007 at CNSC Headquarters in Ottawa and at the CNSC regional office in Saskatoon. The audit covered the period from April 2005 to October 2006, and therefore all comments and findings in this report relate to this period.
Opinion
The audit revealed that UMMD’s management control framework is generally adequate and effective to provide reasonable assurance that the division’s mandate will be achieved.
The audit covered the management activities and key operational processes and controls of UMMD. Some opportunities for improvement in these areas were noted. None of the opportunities for improvement are believed to be indicative of risks that imminently threaten UMMD’s ability to achieve its mandate; however, should these risks continue to go unmitigated, controls may not be adequate to meet demands on the division in the future.
Management Response
Management has provided a response and action plan relating to the recommendations identified:
General Disclaimer
Please note that information that would normally be withheld under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act does not appear in this report.
